Buying guns: Wards catalog vs. Cabela's

[protoolman]

When I was a teenager I saved my money and read endlessly the Sears and Wards catalogs. I ended up buying a Savage 110 with Bushnell scope and a 2 man pup tent on different occasions. I think the anticipation of saving up and ordering was more fun as well as reading field and stream magazine. Going to Cabela's and looking at the entire Remington lineup of calibers and getting out a credit card is just is no fun comparitively speaking.

 

[BlkHawk73]

A lot of that might have to do with the ridiculous prices ¢abela'$ has.

 

[bogus bill]

Might have had something to do with the women's underwear section?

 

[Jeepnik]

Might have had something to do with the women's underwear section?

Well at least one of us admits the truth.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

I don't know how it was in the lower 48 but in Alaska, I bought guns at Montgomery Ward, and JC Penny's. Still have the Marlin 39 I got at JC Penny's. I worked at Montgomery Wards for a while. I think Sears even had some guns, but there was no Cabelas back then up there. I liked Great Northern Guns owned by a guy who made his money on the slope and invested it in his passion.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Yep a long time ago there was a continuing story in F&S about Grandpa and the Kid.
To this day My Son is called Kid and my name now is Gramps thanks to F&S

 

[Wyandot Jim]

I don't know how it was in the lower 48 but in Alaska, I bought guns at Montgomery Ward, and JC Penny's. Still have the Marlin 39 I got at JC Penny's. I worked at Montgomery Wards for a while. I think Sears even had some guns, but there was no Cabelas back then up there. I liked Great Northern Guns owned by a guy who made his money on the slope and invested it in his passion.

YOU THINK Sears had some guns!!!!!!!!!! Well let me told you a thing or so. I bought my Ruger Single-Six from Sears in 1960.
I worked in the Sporting Goods at Sears in 1964-65 and we sold a lot of both handguns and rifles. Then came the 1968 gun control act of 1968

 

[bogus bill]

About 1954 I traded with boot, a single barrel Iver Johnson 20 gauge for a J.C, Higgins 12 gauge pump. I am not sure how they were able to do it as I doubt they handled used guns. Maybe I was given a break? It was a small town Sears store and my dad knew the manager. I was about 13 years old.

 

[Fox Mike]

I remember when you could buy a rifle from Woolworths 5&10. They also had barrels full of old Mausers, M-1s, and Lee Enfields. Those days are gone forever.
As to Wards; my mom was the credit manager for the Montgomery Ward in Annapolis. We could get GOOD prices on all kinds of things.

 

[Mike J]

I know I am younger than most here but I remember my sister working at the J.C Penney catalog outlet when she was in high school. I remember them having single shot shotguns on sale for $19.99 (this was probably around 1978). They had a really busy day. I remember looking at the knives and guns in the J.C. Penney outlet as well as at Richway (it was a regional Southeastern chain) & at K-mart. I bought my deer rifle (a post 64 Winchester model 70) from the local Service Merchandise in about 1989.

 

[blackhawknj]

Youthful memories from the 1960s or perusing the Sears Roebuck calendar, seeing the M1903 Springfield listed-"accurate out to 2700 yards". In 1978 the local J. C. Penney's closed out their sporting goods section, bought a Marlin 336C and M1894 44 Magnum for less than $100 each.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

GCA of 1968 ruined a lot of places. Sears, anyone remember Aldens Catalogs? Penny's and Wards were still selling in the late 70's and 80's. Wards closed down around 1983 I think. Big lose. Pennys's quit guns in the 80's.
In Alaska even Fred Meyer Grocery store carries long guns and handguns. I've seen some of that here in Idaho, but not sure they all have handguns.

 

[blume357]

Wasn't J C Higgins a Sears brand of guns?

 

[toysoldier]

Wasn't J C Higgins a Sears brand of guns?

Here's a quick reference for store brands and company names:

http://leeroysramblings.com/Gun%20Articles/store_brandhouse_guns.html

 

[vito]

When I was a kid, the catalogs from Sears, Penny's and "Monkey Ward" were the books of dreams. You could endlessly peruse those pages and see the BB guns, and real guns, along with smaller motorcycles and other things that a 10 year old boy thought of as the ultimate fantasy dream. Today I love the convenience of sitting at this PC and clicking on Amazon and 15 seconds later being told that what I ordered would be at my front door tomorrow morning, but the anticipation and excitement is not like the old days.

As far as guns go, I can remember as a young man going into an Army-Navy store and seeing a British Enfield .303 carbine, still wrapped in the paper and cosmoline from the factory sometime in the 1940's, for $20. I bought it, and fired it a few times before selling it for $25 a few years later. When I bought it, no ID was needed, no credit card was used, just cash and walk out the door. And that was in New York City! A few years later it was just about as easy to buy a gun in Texas at a sporting goods store at the mall, but I think I had to show my Texas driver's license to buy that S&W Model 19 that I still own. I wish I still had that old bolt action Enfield.

 

[Paul B]

In 1981 my wife worked catalog at J.C. Penney. I was at home when she calls me up and said Penney's was closing out all their sporting goods and guns were marked way down. She'd checked and if there was anything I was interested in and I cold get her 10% employee's discount on top of the sale price. One Remington M700 30-06, $110. A Winchester M94 30-30 $90 and a Marlin 336 $95. All three came home with me. There a few other guns but I had no interest in those. Should have bought them too. Would have been darn good trading material. Oh well.
Paul B.

 

[jollymon]

As a kid that Catalog was "Gold" ( Ladies Underwear Too) for a lot of my Hunting gear , I'd cut grass all summer ,2 Paper Routes to save to order my much needed gear , The Herters catalog was a must have for a Sportsmen of any age too.

 

[Rancher Will]

We all know the times have changed. I believe I have mentioned this here before, but I will add it again.

I bought my first gun in 1939 when I walked into the local hardware store with less than $10 in my pocket earned from selling some muskrat pelts. I was not quite 10 years old and I paid cash before walking out with a Stevens, single shot, bolt action rifle, plus a box of .22 LR ammo. The rifle cost $8.00 and the box of .22's cost 50 cents.

 

[SAJohn]

What I really miss is the Herter's catalogs. (I still have one.)

 

[steveodtw]

Wasn't J C Higgins a Sears brand of guns?

Here's a quick reference for store brands and company names:

http://leeroysramblings.com/Gun%20Articles/store_brandhouse_guns.html

Thanks for that cross reference toysoldier. I had no idea how many private label retailer names there for major gun manufacturers.